[Xsltforms-support] schema designer and xforms generator

[Stephen C. <ste...@gm...>]

Hello All,

I am currently working on a project to create an XML Schema Designer and
XForms Generator.

The XML Schema Designer will itself be an 'XForm', the theory being that
XForms is for building XML and that is what XML Schema is, so it should be
possible (kind of a 'RepRap' <http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page> way of
thinking).

The current Schema Designer UI version is online at
http://collinta.com.au/schema2forms/designer.xml . This is a work in
progress, more of a prototype than a beta.

I have the notion of how XForms are to be generated clear in my mind but
not much progress made on that side as yet.

The main principles in the generation process are:

1. Schematron rules (constraints) are embedded into the XML Schema as
xs:annotation/xs:appinfo/xxx tags and are used to add constraints to
xf:bind elements
2. Generation of Xforms layout occurs by adding render-as attributes to the
schema elements, also as xs:annotation/xs:appinfo/xxx tags.

The Designer will, I hope, be simple enough for folk without an
understanding of XML Schema or Schematron to use.

I intend to put the project on sourceforge in the very near future, but if
there is anyone with a desire to contribute (effort or ideas) please say.

Apart from wanting to create something useful, this project is in part
motivated by the desire to demonstrate the power of XForms and particularly
a native client-side implementation (which currently means XSLTForms) for
creating effective complex UI's, making use of the XForms MVC 'engine'.

I'd be really happy if this was a collabortive effort. For me its just part
of some other open-source projects (looking at XRX architectures) that I
want to do.

If there are any serious offers of help, I'll document the design concepts
as the highest priority.

All contributions will be acknowledged.

Regards

Steve Cameron